Bryant McKinnie: Jonathan Martin went about it the wrong way

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 18, 2014, 10:52 AM EDT

AP

Bryant McKinnie, who replaced Jonathan Martin as the Dolphins’ left tackle after Martin left the team amid accusations that he was being bullied, doesn’t like the way Martin handled himself in the locker room.

McKinnie said on SiriusXM NFL Radio that Martin should have spoken up and said so if the razzing in the locker room was getting under his skin.

“I don’t feel like ‘bullying’ is the term because nobody physically harmed him or made him do anything,” McKinnie said. “He always had an option to say yes or no. It was never that he got bullied like he feared for his life. I just feel like he went about it the wrong way and didn’t communicate properly with the proper people. . . . The players themselves thought Jonathan was laughing with them.”

In fairness to Martin, however, just because he wasn’t physically harmed doesn’t mean he wasn’t bullied. And people who are bullied often go along with it because they fear that standing up to it will only make it worse. Maybe Martin should have spoken up, or maybe if Martin had spoken up he only would have escalated the situation.

But McKinnie’s view may be a common one in NFL locker rooms, and McKinnie suggested that Martin might have a hard time convincing a team that he belongs in a locker room.

“Some people might look at Jonathan as, he might be too sensitive for this environment,” he said. “We don’t know if he’s emotionally stable enough to do this.”

The Wells Report, however, indicated that the problem in Miami wasn’t Martin’s emotional stability. The problem in Miami was that teammates (and in one case a coach) were verbally abusing Martin. A player shouldn’t have to withstand abuse in order to play in the NFL.

Wow.. Bryant McKinnie took time away from his busy schedule of boating with prostitutes and hitting people over the head with metal poles outside of the strip club to make the most intelligent comment of his life. Nailed it.

“The problem in Miami was that teammates (and in one case a coach) were verbally abusing Martin. A player shouldn’t have to withstand abuse in order to play in the NFL.”

Where was the media while this aberrant behavior was being conducted? They had to just look the other way. Why aren’t journalists held accountable? These guys couldn’t smell camel dung if their face was down in it.

You guys have spent over two decades hanging around the Dolphin lockeroom. This fiasco exposes you as the low character sports reporters that you are. If the ignorant harassment had come out much earlier, perhaps it could have been stymied before the Dolphins were exposed as national idiots. –

A player shouldn’t have to withstand abuse in order to play in the NFL.

Actually, players have to withstand all types of abuse to play in the nfl. their ability to withstand the physical abuse that comes with the territory is one of things that separate them from the rest of us. if not, there wouldn’t be a concussion settlement.

He needs to learn a lot about bullying. Martin couldn’t go to his position coach because he was part of the dysfunction and the GM told him to start a fight with Incognito. Where else could he go? Stop playing the “blame the victim” game.

When you’re being bullied like Martin was by Incognito, you’re ashamed and embarrassed that it’s happening to you. You don’t want to tell anyone because you don’t want to let anyone know that it’s hurting and bothering you.

Martin wanted to fit in with the Dolphins. The only way he could do so was keeping quiet. Considering how all the Dolphin players and coaches abandoned him and are still taking shots at him, how could he have been expected to talk to anyone on the team about the problem? Who exactly would he have spoken to? Joe Philbin apparently turned a blind eye to all of it.

Oh, a lawyer who never was in a locker room says he was “bullied”, but a 10 year veteran says he was not. What about the same report that said he felt bullied in middle school and high school? Did Richie Incognito go to those schools as well? And if he did not want to go to coaches, why not other players? Reggie Bush or Karlos Dansby were vets and, although on another team, were only a phone call away. Or even Ellersbee or Cameron Wake — both respected veterans? And sorry, hard to take seriously someone who gets upset when someone says, “yo mama.”

I’ll take McKinnie’s advice on runnin through the okra patch but fail to see how he has any authority on bullying.

crownofthehelmet says:Feb 18, 2014 11:12 AM

Surprised there was actually a time that he didn’t have a double-cheeseburger in his mouth.

ballinmore says:Feb 18, 2014 11:14 AM

If Bryant McKinnie becomes the voice of reason for a locker room you know there are issues. Bet he could plan a heck of a bachelor party though. Could be a good post playing profession for him to pay back his lockout loan.

The v I kings are the M egan fox of the NFL.The packers are the ugly Betty.

realheroeswearcamo says:Feb 18, 2014 11:15 AM

The last line of this article may be the dumbest thing I have ever read on this site!
Of course players have to withstand abuse in the NFL (and every other sports league, military org, etc.)
How you handle the “friendly fire” abuse tells your teammates whether or not they can trust you to handle the abuse you will face on the field. Physical and mental.
(That’s why most players are backing Incognito!!)

6ball says:Feb 18, 2014 11:17 AM

.

If there’s no problem with the behavior of the Dolphins players and coaches, why not make that type of hazing a league policy? All players must act like Incognito et al. All coaches must act like Turner and Philbin.

“I don’t feel like ‘bullying’ is the term because nobody physically harmed him or made him do anything,” McKinnie said. “He always had an option to say yes or no. It was never that he got bullied like he feared for his life. I just feel like he went about it the wrong way and didn’t communicate properly with the proper people. . . . The players themselves thought Jonathan was laughing with them.”

And he would know this how? The guy got signed by the Dolphins LESS THAN A WEEK before Martin left. Regardless it’s good to get advice from a bullying expert. It’s not bullying unless you get arrested for hitting someone over the head with a pole or force people to watch you have sex right Bryant?

Based on the comments from NFL players, it really does seem that Martin is on an island on how he handled things. Whether you agree with that or not is your own personal opinion. I know this for a fact, we weren’t in the locker room. Also different work places handle things different ways. I assure you the Marines police their rank and files differently then you do at your corporate cubed office so let’s stop pretending the two are the same. At the end of the day, the Dolphins lacked a team leader to police that locker room.

jagsfan1 says:Feb 18, 2014 11:24 AM

wussification of America is now steamrolling into the wussification of the NFL…and there seem to be an awful lot of wussies who are in agreement with it…

I have seen a lot of comments on here saying how Jon Martin was a coward or baby, and now this guy saying he went about it the wrong way. Maybe if more people went about reporting things the way Jon Martin did, we would have less shooting at our work place and schools. Think to yourself for a moment, what if Jon Martin handled this like most people who are harassed at school or work. What would we be saying? So instead of ripping Jon Martin let’s say what a great job he did to keep his cool and report things the right way.

funny how the media and people take what they want out of that report. will write stories and comments for days about how bad richie was and dogging philbin, yet the report states that philbin learned about martins unstable mental state and reached out to help him, commending philbin. funny how there were not many stories on that. if martin went to philbin about all this i fully believe philbin would have handled it and based of the personel text between martin and richie i believe richie would have stopped and this would not have been an issue.

bobzilla1001 says:Feb 18, 2014 11:32 AM

This entire episode is amusing. I’d like to have seen Jonathon Martin in my basic-training unit back in 1970. No one truly knows what “bullying” is, unless they served in the “old army” and dealt with power-tripping drill sergeants 24/7.
Our society has gotten soft and weak.

The Wells Report seemed more interested in protecting the shield, than exposing the truth. The text messages between Martin and Incognito, and the executive summary of the Wells report, appear to come from two different universes. The report explains that many assistant coaches were aware of the comments made by Incognito, Pouncey, and who ever else, but then goes on to exonerate Coach Philbin and the FO, as if they have no responsibility to communicate with the other members of the coaching staff, or are responsible for the conduct of those underneath them.

This whole thing is a sham. That doesn’t mean that the conduct in the locker room should be considered acceptable, but the effort to push all the responsibility on a few players seems more like an attempt to protect the Dolphins and the NFL, than an attempt to get to the truth.

If Jonathan Martin could not handle a teammate abusing him how will he handle the trash talking he will face from opposing Defenses…

finsguy says:Feb 18, 2014 11:36 AM

I love how all you JMart apologists instead of defending the baby and what he did just attack McKinnie for his weight, or his own incidents or whatever.

You know how you can tell you’ve lost an agrument? When you can’t defend your position but make ad hominem attacks on the person taking the other position that have nothing to do with the subject being discussed.

The truth is JMart is soft, he was a willing participant in all of the crude texting and sent some himself, he wasn’t “forced” to do or pay anything (he didn’t pay for the LV trip) and everyone seemed fine with it, and he didn’t contact his head coach to let him know he was being “bullied” or even tell them it was bothering him..

In Martin’s case, people don’t point out that he has a history of being “bullied” going all the way to high school where he kids smaller than him were picking on him and he didn’t know how to respond.

That and his mental illness issues, just shows that he was a fragile person before entering the NFL.

rc33 says:Feb 18, 2014 11:40 AM

“In fairness to Martin…” is flat-out laughable. The media has done nothing other than trip over itself to be overly fair to Martin throughout this mess. And overly unfair to anyone that may disagree with their position.

pongonfl says:Feb 18, 2014 11:42 AM

Guy is being hassled not by a player, but by his leader, the captain, the guy the coaches player committee. The guy who has the whole support of the team and the coaching staff, the guy who is supposed to be the one setting the tone for the locker room.
That is who is harassing him.
What was he supposed to do again?

At the point Incognito stated he had broken him…..the intent was there to harm him from day 1.

Gaslighting someone is not a cut and dry situation, we are not talking backyard bullying, it is a psychological manipulation.

If you put someone in a positive situation, they will thrive, make them a target of harassment they will not.

dolphansanity says:Feb 18, 2014 11:45 AM

Look. This isn’t difficult. Martin was mentally weak and emotionally unstable. Incognito and friends picked on the mentally weak and unstable teammate. They are both pathetic in completely different ways. The only difference is that Incognito and friends CHOSE to agitate the mentally weaker man and martin DIS NOT CHOOSE to be mentally weak. Anyone who picks on another and exploits a mental weakness/illness for their own pleasure… trying to “break him” emotionally is sadder and more pathetic than the person they picked on. Period.

What happened shouldn’t have happened, Martin shouldn’t have felt threatened/bullied/whatever. But he should have said something to somebody. I know people like Incognito, they actually think the way they are acting is acceptable and don’t mean to be harmful. If Martin said something, it might have stopped… MIGHT. And if it didn’t, go up the chain until it does stop. I think he went too far too fast…

@”The Steelers cast such an immense shadow over the league. There’s no wonder why we are so widely envied. We are superior. We have six Lombardis. What do you have ☹?”

You are the reason why most other fans hate us Steelers fans.

If everyone else could not judge us as a fanbase by this person, that would be great.

warhawk137 says:Feb 18, 2014 12:01 PM

So now it’s not bullying unless your life is in danger?

theytukrjobs says:Feb 18, 2014 12:01 PM

I’m fascinated by this concept that a wealthy man capable of crushing me without effort could be bullied and made to feel sad and that I should feel a ton of sympathy for him.

Bully’s are bad m’kay. But if you don’t say anything to anyone then what do you expect? I bet plenty of players get razzed and hazed and aren’t that bothered by it and do it to younger players later in their careers.

Why is everything that makes people tougher seen as bad in the new America? Does everyone need coddling?

“In fairness to Martin, however, just because he wasn’t physically harmed doesn’t mean he wasn’t bullied.”

Which is not what McKinnie is saying. What he is saying is that you can’t claim you were bullied when you’re palling around with the guy and never once saying what Incognito did bothered him. Heck Martin told Incognito of his depression, but blamed it on poor performance (Martin tried to play that off as being drunk to Wells).

cornersss says:Feb 18, 2014 12:05 PM

“indicated that the problem in Miami wasn’t Martin’s emotional stability.”

The only reason you’re hearing about bullying in the NFL now is because most coaches and front offices have firm control of their locker rooms. The main rule in most cases is “if you have an issue with someone it stays in house” This much was actually said by an NFL coach on the record.

The problem here is that the Dolphins coaching staff and front office did NOTHING and let it escalate for 2 years (according to the Wells report).

It’s absolutely ridiculous that people come on here and try to say “everyone does it”. That is not the case. The problem is the NFL locker room has a prison mentality where you’re the victim until you physically make them stop so while everyone might not agree with it, they’re not going to step in if the guy getting the treatment just takes it (this was the case in the Shaun Smith/Brady Quinn incident where no one liked Smith because he was a jerk to people but no one stepped in on Quinns behalf when Smith physically attacked him). Not everyone in an NFL locker room was an ivy league pre med major with great parents who knows right from wrong. Right now their is a New England Patriots tight end in jail for allegedly MURDERING people who stood up to him. Two of that guys friends are implicated as JONATHON MARTINS BULLIES.

Yep, he really should have stood up for himself right? Best case scenario no one in the locker room likes you because you look like a snitch for telling someone else and not fighting it out. Worst case scenario you go on a late night car ride and don’t come back.

This is life in the National Felony League.

osiris33 says:Feb 18, 2014 12:11 PM

Martin is wimp.

crubenst says:Feb 18, 2014 12:12 PM

Their motivational techniques didn’t work. Too bad for Martin. Now time to move on to another job where you won’t be able to get along with your peers and get “bullied” by your boss. I’m sure Martin will eventually wind up on medicare disability for emotional distress.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually agree with McKinnie on this.

Martin’s problem is that he took his dirty laundry public instead of trying to work things out within the organization. No one wants to work with someone like that. Martin needs to ask Chris Kluwe how well that approach is working out for him.

Looks like Wells purposely didnt put McKinnies views in the report. Hmm now we know why!@

arwiv says:Feb 18, 2014 12:19 PM

Wow…..my father taught me how to deal with bullies when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I never had any problems, even though I lost a few fights. I guess that’s the difference between having a dad who went to Harvard and one who fought in Vietnam.

jamaltimore says:Feb 18, 2014 12:19 PM

Bryant Mckinnie is a WORLD CHAMPION don’t ever forget that. Martin is a pampered millennial who was raised with nothing but praise. Most likely never had to stand up for himself in the schools he went to and was conditioned like so many today that everything they do is correct.

George Carlin did great skit about these kids when they step into the workforce and get fired because a boss or co-worker gives them a piece of reality. Point is people cross the line a lot and for society to function people need to have the skills do deal with these issues other than running away and going back to Mommy and Dadddy.

LOL. Maybe Martin should have got Fat and Overweight and filed for bankruptcy. Sound familiar bryant?

dietrich43 says:Feb 18, 2014 12:34 PM

Lack of leadership is the problem. The veteran leader was Incognito, the ring leader. The position coach was a party to the insults. And there was the Judas policy to discourage taking it outside the group. I don’t like my 8 year old get away with “I was just joking” and grown men shouldn’t use that excuse either. This isn’t a single joke that got out of hand, this was persistent and daily. Never mind the Dolpins are an employer, and as an employee, Martin has rights.

Actually, rugby is a hooligans game. It just happens to now be played by gentleman. You could say the exact opposite regarding soccer.

As a kid I was bullied from probably 4th grade to graduation. I’m stronger, more compassionate, and more successful because of it. Bullying has a place in this world and anybody who doesn’t think so is part of the problem that is the ever growing sense of entitlement we see from our youth in my opinion.

DonRSD says:Feb 18, 2014 1:02 PM

Again – Martin refused to speak to Wells.
Of course the report is one sided.
Martin knew if he spoke, the truth would come out.

As an intelligent person who’s coached managers on how to treat employees, I want to say there’s no excuse for any organization to allow employees to treat workers the way Martin was reportedly treated. But as a kid I was bullied until I found my voice and spoke up for myself. I didn’t ask anyone to intervene on my behalf. And in four years living in some pretty scary conditions overseas, there wasn’t anyone to intervene. I had to handle worse than what Martin got without anyone to hold my hand. But that’s what I signed up for.

Yeah, people should be able to come to work without being harassed. But a pro-football locker room isn’t a typical corporate work environment. If you want to play professional football, you should know the locker room isn’t a garden party. I just can’t help feeling Martin could have managed this better.

Do you really think any of this is gonna matter when the open guy player goes in the locker room.maybe Martin should learn for him. At least. he has thick skin!! I quest it doesn’t matter that he is getting paid mad money maybe if he was doing his job none of this would had happened . Football is a team sport. It also is a violent one . If your teammates see that your not doing your job there gonna do or say something.

Why do you guys even interview a guy like Bryant McKinney? It must have been a slow news day.

kate773 says:Feb 18, 2014 2:08 PM

Its amazing to me that there are actually people that are ok with what happened in that locker room. That Martin’s emotional problems, if he has any, make it acceptable or his fault. This is NEVER ok. Incognito is a loser and so is anyone that would treat or excuse treatment of someone in this manner. Grow up.

linemanguy74 says:Feb 18, 2014 2:17 PM

Look who is talking about behavior

sbaltimore says:Feb 18, 2014 2:25 PM

Of course Bryant is right. Everybody knows the way to handle Incognito would have been to throw him a party on a bus with strippers like Sweet Pea, and then everything would have been okay. Just like it was with McKinnie.

As others have noted, McKinnie played for the Ravens which is my home team and I honestly thought he was done when the Ravens let him go. He was involved with the infamous Sweet Pea incident that ended with WR Jaboby Jones having a wine bottle broken over his head. I am not sure he is one I would look for insight from about character.

He’s right though, and even the Wells report points this out. The first few paragraphs of the report talk about Martin’s trouble with his self-image, how he beats himself up for never standing up for himself since middle school, and his bouts with depression BEFORE he was with the Dolphins.

The report also points out that Martin NEVER TOLD ANYONE ON THE DOLPHINS that this behavior was bothering him. He talked just as nasty on and off the field so, like the other players concluded, it was back and forth ribbing. The Wells report does not do a wonderful job of portraying that too much because they pick and choose the text messages they want to show you. You read them all and you’d understand why Incognito and the others would think nothing was wrong until Martin left the team.

Did they all act like professional adults? Nope. Not at all. Was everything that happened right? Nope. But Martin was not some innocent person in all of this. He actively participated in all of it. How convenient of him to say after the fact of him losing his starting job and possibly his NFL career that everything he did was because of somebody else, and that he left because of somebody else, that the reason he doesn’t stand up for himself is because of somebody else.

Martin, if you want to find the source of your troubles and who this somebody else is, look in a mirror. It is all on you.

I agree with McKinnie, I don’t know how many teams will be knocking down the door to get Martin from the Dolphins (he’s still under contract, so they’d have to make a trade for him) and I doubt the Dolphins will have him in their future plans….given everything that came out in the Wells report. Martin has some emotional issues that he needs to completely resolve before he tries to play in the NFL again.

oldcracker says:Feb 18, 2014 4:37 PM

It seems to me that most of us smaller, average, guys (5’10”) learn how to deal with bullying at an early age. I know not all do, and that’s sad, but most of us do.

In a 3 yr period (1964-1967), through a series of accidents, I lost everyone in my family, except my mother and a younger brother. I went into a period of deep depression and simply wanted to be left alone. I became a book-worm and a nerd, and this was taken as a sign of weakness, at a critical time in a young boy’s life. The bullying began, making my bad life even worse. It even infected one of my teachers, the PE teacher. Bad enough showering if front of strangers but, Mr. “X” was a young, snot-nosed punk, just out of college, dating high-school girls and trying to “fit in” with the kids, ….at my expense. (I’m the only kid I know of to flunk PE for 3 years of middle-school!)

Things finally changed went I started high school. I had a new PE teacher, Mr. John Moore, a former football player (lineman) for the Baltimore Colts. This guy saw I had problems and took a personal interest in me. He talked to me and helped me build my confidence back up, primarily through gymnastics. Soon, I flet like a normal kid again. Yes, a couple of fights after football games helped, too.

Then, in 1970, I was drafted and soon found myself learning hand-to-hand combat. One of our drill sergeants was a 5′ tall Fillipino, a former Scout and a combat vet. He was the meanest, hardest bad ass any of us had come across, and let me tell you, he was not done with you until you knew you could defend yourself against anyone! He could give the biggest guys a real beat down. “Life or death,” he would emphasize.

J. Martin seems like a nice enough guy, just trying to fit in with his new team. No one can question his intelligence or skills at Stanford. I guess J.Martin just never had to face the inevitable question, “life or death – fight or flight?” I certainly don’t condone bullying, but maybe he’s finally facing his “white whale”? (No pun intended)

Let the guy voice his opinion, instead of ‘bullying’ your opinion upon him. The guy’s a hulking offensive lineman and did go about it the wrong way. The vitriol hoisted among anyone who doesn’t think he’s been bullied is no worse.

nflgreedleague says:Feb 18, 2014 4:57 PM

So when the Steelers center grabbed Randy Starks by the gonads and squeezed was that bullying?
If so then I think the NFL might be conducive to
bullying.

In a way I agree with him. In the real work world, everyone goes up the ladder when it comes to a complaint, so why should this be any different? I am no Philbin fan. I think he should have been fired just for the way the team played its last two games alone but Philbin deserved the chance to take corrective actions before it got to this point. Even if Philbin should have been more connected to his team, it was the responsibility of Martin to take the issue to Philbin. I will add that maybe Philbin was not approachable but nothing in the report indicates that. So now if I am a GM or a coach I am asking myself can I trust this guy to keep any issue in house or will he turn the locker room into a three ring circus? IMO, that is a huge risk, considering that Martin has yet to play at an acceptable level.

youngman44 says:Feb 18, 2014 6:31 PM

“And people who are bullied often go along with it because they fear that standing up to it will only make it worse.”

The problem here is manifold:

1) If the players themselves thought Martin was going along, dishing it out, and taking it all in a good natured way – then how are they to be blamed for abuse? For Mr. Smith – have you ever in your life teased a friend and they laughed and teased you back? Did that make you abusive if they never indicated that they disliked the teasing?

2) Suppose none of that stuff ever really bothered Martin internally? It all might have gone down just exactly as it did and if people got wind of some of it they might have thought, “these guys are vulgar and disgusting,” (which they were and are) but no one would have thought about abuse. Especially if it was meant in a good natured way. Now, some might have rightly said – had they known any of it, “Even if all the players like it, it is over the line and needs to be cleaned up.”

The rest of this is nonsense because no one knew.

If two people are dating and one wants out of the relationship but never says anything, and eventually they break it off, can they go back and say, “I wanted out a year earlier but didn’t say anything. But, I think all the calls the person made and all the dates we went on is tantamount to harassment.” They would be laughed out of the room.

One point he makes is valid. I cant see a whole lot of teams lining up to sign a mediocre player who is already a distraction and who may run to the media if/when he is feeling bullied.

txfinfan says:Feb 18, 2014 8:02 PM

While I don’t condone adolescent behavior in adults, it amazes me how ‘shocked’ and ‘amazed’ people are that this happens. When you consider the character of players in the NFL (check the police blotter not just the charity events) this should not surprise anyone. They are modern day gladiators. Many, especially the guys in the trenches, are going to be slightly Neanderthal. What I wonder is: what happens now? Do we start flagging linemen when they TAUNT each other across the line of scrimmage in a game? Oh wait…you didn’t know that happened? Crap. Someone call Goodell….

Are you actually a follower of football? Players shouldn’t have to take abuse? Everybody, in almost every workplace has to take abuse. Granted, some workplaces are less crude, but you cannot actually believe that the NFL locker room must be free of slander, name-calling, etc.

Also, why is this “report”, (which is really just a lawyer’s opinion of the interviews he took), a better look into this situation than the actual players’ words? (Other than Martin) Every Dolphins player that has been in front of a camera or a microphone has said nothing but, “this isn’t an issue, you’re making it one”. This is getting ridiculous. I’m getting my football news elsewhere until PFT can figure out how go back to being an observer and reporter of facts. Not these entertainers who can’t stop themselves from adding in some smart remark at the end of EVERY post written.